Aaron Rubens started Kudoboard earlier this year to provide an online alternative to the group greeting card passed around at birthday parties and other festive occasions. On a recent morning, Rubens and his entrepreneurial coach Megan Hargroder found themselves exploring the potential of a very different market -- funerals.

Rubens, a former teacher and a Harvard Business School graduate, has spent recent weeks brainstorming ways to make money and keep Kudoboard growing. Part of that means looking at markets that may not have initially been on his radar.

Kudoboard allows people to gather photos, video and notes online. Users can use themed templates to design a message board.

Rubens noted cards and photos are typically gathered at weddings and baby showers. Hargroder added many families in her hometown of Lafayette gather photos of deceased relatives to display during funerals.

Rubens paused to think. He had thought about funerals and memorials, but he questioned whether his marketing was too bright and happy to do well in that space.

"This would really work well for that kind of use," Rubens said. "I just don't know if the brand works for it."

Rubens is one of five New Orleans entrepreneurs who will showcase their concept Dec. 10 before a panel of judges and an audience at the IberiaBank offices on Poydras Street. The event -- known as Demo Day -- is the conclusion of the Digital MediaX program, a 12-week business accelerator developed by The Idea Village and NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

Digital MediaX Files: Kudoboard's Aaron Rubens shares his startup storyAaron Rubens, founder of Kudoboard, an online alternative to the group greeting card, shares his thoughts as enters the final weeks of coaching through Digital MediaX, a business accelerator developed by The Idea Village and NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. (Video submitted by Aaron Rubens)

The winner gets $1,000 and a trip to New York to meet with digital media experts at Advance Local, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune's parent company.

Rubens is confident about pitching the Kudoboard concept in front of strangers, an ease he said he learned through dozens of business school presentations.

"Students are the most critical people on the planet," Rubens joked.

He is intent on hammering out a clearer vision for how Kudoboard will make money leading up to Demo Day.

Kudoboard is getting traction, but, like most startups, is still working on its revenue model. Designs have come in from as far as Australia and Jordan. Rubens is exploring options for offering high-quality printing for users who want to pay to put their online designs on paper.

Rubens said people are more willing to pay for tools to commemorate weddings, funerals and other life-changing events. There is also more competition in those markets.

Rubens thinks there is room to offer a better product at a lower price, particularly when it comes to remembering a loved one who has died. He noted some memorial websites charge as much as $30 per month for outdated online tools that allow users to sign a guestbook and light digital candles.

"It just seems kind of slimy," Rubens said.

Sally Forman, a communications coach at The Idea Village, observed Rubens knows all the stats behind Kudoboard. She urged him to work on conveying the emotional side of the numbers in his pitch.

People feel good when they get a Kudoboard, she said. Potential users and, one day, investors need to see that connection, she said.